Chris Writes.

During my day at Bar Camp, I got to talk to a bunch of smart folks (no real surprise), and heard lots of interesting stuff.  A few highlights:

1. A half hour discussion on how to get people who disagree to talk.  The fundamental split is this: lots of people who agree with each other congregate in social networks online.  Lots of people who like to fight with each other use the internet to fight with each other.  But few, if any, go online with much willingness to have their mind changed.  What would www.changemymind.com look like if it existed?   A favorite pull-quote: “There are a lot of people in Alabama who don’t know anyone like me.” 

This doesn’t fall far from the US electoral college concept: the system shows an amount of agreement and disagreement, but hides a great deal of the actual disagreement, and does not encourage people to seek alternative ways of thinking. 

2. Mobile applications are going to be even more insanely ridiculously big than they already are.  And a good deal of it will be, apparently, porn.  Go figure. 

3.  Lots and lots of web 2.o stuff gets promoted as being cheaper, or faster.  But I think the better value is actually its relevance.  Social networks, and things built by them, might be cheaper and faster and scale very well.  But they include a certain amount of relevance that cannot be otherwise created.